Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh reckoned that skipper Hardik Pandya will be Mumbai Indians' (MI) top retention ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 mega auction which is scheduled to take place next year. He also believes that Rohit Sharma will be retained by the Mumbai-based franchise as India won the T20 World Cup 2024 under his leadership.
Five-time IPL champion MI's performance has been drastically down since 2023. They finished fourth in 2023 the cash-rich league. They last won their IPL title in 2020 which was hosted in Dubai because of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
“Mumbai Indians is a team that hasn’t played well in the last two to three years. They’ve been a champion team, a very good team, and as far as I know, they will definitely think of building a team for the future. But that doesn’t mean they won’t add experienced players this year,” Harbhajan said on Star Sports.
Harbhajan Singh’s retention list for MI
Harbhajan shared his thoughts on MI's retention strategy ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Interestingly, he mentioned that paying Tilak Verma either Rs 11 or 14 crore wouldn’t be an issue. Additionally, unlike many others, the seasoned spinner singled out Hardik Pandya as his top choice for retention within the MI squad.
“Last year, they made Hardik Pandya captain, and I think he will definitely be retained. Jasprit Bumrah will be retained, Suryakumar Yadav will be retained, and the question remains whether Rohit Sharma will be retained. He has just won the World Cup as a captain, so I think he should be retained, and he will be. That will make four players, and if there’s a fifth player, then Tilak Varma will be retained. Tilak Varma is one of those players who will be very useful for Mumbai Indians in the future to win matches. When it comes to bowling, I don’t think there’s anyone else they would want to retain, so Nehal Wadhera could be a good option for them. He is an uncapped player, so he should be picked,” he added.
India's legendary spinner missed Ishan Kishan who was picked by Mumbai Indians for a whopping INR 15.25 Crore during the last IPL auction in 2022.